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14 February 2008

Love is in the air

Here's to another commercialized and meaningless holiday!

Although I did get a red hardhat in the mail today--a sign perhaps??

Job is going.....well here's the thing. I LIKE my job. I like the people with whom I work, for the most part. I work for a REALLY good company. It just so happens that my immediate boss is a megalomaniacal psychopath, and he's a very difficult person for whom to work. Some days I just sit here thinking, gee, I could smile and keep doing my job, or I could go home and stick my head in the oven. The problem is I just CAN'T seem to choose, because my options? They totally balance each other out in pros and cons.

On the side of staying at this company and keeping this job:

The company is excellent. I mean truly, they seem genuinely concerned with doing right by their employees in a way that is both rare and refreshing.

I believe in what we're doing.

I enjoy my day-to-day tasks.

I enjoy a great deal of independence.

I am well compensated.

There is plenty of room for advancement.

On the side of GETTING THE FUCK OUT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE:

Boss is fuckwit.

There is no foreseeable end to fuckwit boss not being my boss any more, as he is Company President's Best Beloved.

CA campus is grossly understaffed and mismanaged.

I am in Butte County.

I have no support system here.

I don't make enough money to not need a support system.

Interoffice politics rival daytime television in their drama and detail.

This is my take. I'm 36 and I've been working since I was nearly 16. Two decades! Ack! But, the first 10 years was fast food and family restaurants and graduate assisting. Ok back to my take...

1. There's always going to be someone like your boss no matter where you go, someone who is in a position of management that is not apparent to anyone with any sense how he got into that position. I'll call them "Mean Michael Scotts." There's one (at least) like him everywhere. So, don't leave just because of him because you can't avoid these people! In all of my job changes (4, not including fast food), I feel like this is my most important lesson. And, no matter how much I can't stand "Phil," (not my manager, but he gets in my way nonetheless) I'm going to stay. Oh, gosh. I just realized I can't take my own advice. If they ever made me work for "Phil" I would immediately give my two weeks' notice. Well, he's worse than all that's gone before him, and he would fire me before I got a chance to quit if I didn't quit immediately. And, my current boss is my best boss ever, and I don't want to give him up for anything. But office politics and stupid management and the price of milk and gas may actually cause him to get fired. (I ramble...it's what I do.)

2. Once you find a good boss, don't let him/her go lightly. I did that once, and it was really stupid. I left her for a huge ass company where I thought I could grow, but the fact is, it just sucked the marrow from my bones for 5 years as I stagnated in the same no-future position. I miss that marrow. I'm glad I'm not there any more.